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Re: Harddrive upgrade
In article <29jjvg$n31@news.ysu.edu> ag471@yfn.ysu.edu (Eric S. Ford) writes:
>
> I'm hoping to upgrade my 20Meg harddrive to something (anything) with
> greater capacity. I would like to simply remove the existing mechanism
> from the case and install a new one, saving me the cost of a new power
> supply etc.
Possible problems when doing this:
- Your HD case's power supply may not have enough grunt for a new drive.
- You are likely to have difficulty mounting a newer drive into the
existing case (especially if your current drive is a 5.25" mechanism,
which is likely). A different mounting bracket may be required.
- Different HD manufacturers have different methods of connecting the
access light and SCSI ID connector. You may not be able to connect
these in your existing case without modifying the connectors.
> As I understand it, this is a simple process (looks simple
> to me anyway). My current drive is a CMS20 which uses a Seagate
> mechanism.
Hm, CMS...
Which SCSI card are you using? If you have the CMS SCSI card, you are
likely to have major difficulty getting a larger hard drive to work.
Get rid of the card and buy an Apple or RamFAST card instead.
If you already have an Apple SCSI card, there should be no problem.
> I am assuming I can replace that with another Seagate as the
> simplest approach.
Not really. Most of the newer mechanisms are pretty similar, no matter
which manufacturer you pick.
> What other options should I explore? I saw an ad for some MFM
> mechanisms but I don't know if those would be compatible.
They won't be. ST-506, MFM, RLL, IDE and ESDI are all intended for
use as internal hard drives for IBM PC clones (or compatible
computers). Some can be used on other platforms (e.g. there are IDE
cards for the Apple II). None are compatible with SCSI.
You must get a SCSI mechanism.
--
David Empson
dempson@swell.actrix.gen.nz
Snail mail: P.O. Box 27-103, Wellington, New Zealand